HASTINGS
DEERING STAIRS

These
mobile stairs were designed by Qantas for the introduction of the Boeing
707 in 1959. George Roberts OAM was heavily involved in their design as
recorded in his biography:
(Byrnes, Paul 2000 Qantas By George! The Watermark Press, Sydney
p.171)

"He remains particularly proud of the motorised passenger stairs that
he commissioned from Hastings Deering automotive engineers at Lidcombe.
With hydraulics, the stairs could be raised or lowered to the doors of different
aircraft. Mounting them on a specially designed chassis using Ford components
made them fully transportable. They were also demountable to allow shipping
on a DC-3 or DC-4, and fully roadworthy. In fact, when the first one was
ready, George simply drove it from Lidcombe to Mascot, a big red and white
staircase on wheels. All the major Australian airlines soon adopted the
design, as did Pan Am, Air New Zealand and Malaysian Airways."

APR-MAY88

Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited Brisbane for EXPO 88. Qantas staff who
later prepared the HD stairs for donation to QAM stated that the stairs
had been used by Her Majesty during her 1988 visit.

25FEB89

On
this date, the QAM members comprising the "Sentosa Rescue Mission"
were photographed on the newly restored stairs at Brisbane Airport.